Salem Origin Rewrite
by Raging Archon
Summary: A rewrite of Salem's origin from Volume six. More details inside.


**Hey everyone, something a little different today. So, as anyone who follows my other stories will already know, I'm starting to lose interest in RWBY. Whilst there are many reasons for that which I will not get into, one of them is the whole back story with Salem and Ozpin (sorry, I mean Ozma). I mean, Salem had a lot of potential as a villain despite not knowing a thing about her, and then in Volume 6 we got, well, a super cliché origin where we still don't know a damn thing about her present day motivations. Does she still want to be worshipped as a Goddess? Does she want to destroy humanity? Does she want to kill the Gods? We have no damn idea!**

**Anyway, I decided instead to give you all my interpretation of an origin for Salem. I don't claim my idea is better than what M and K gave us, but I would appreciate it if you did give me your feedback on this rewrite for Salem's origin. I'm not intending to write this as a proper story, and I'm basing it off of how Tolkien wrote the Silmarillion. Enjoy.**

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Long ago, when Remnant was still young, Humanity and Faunus lived alongside Gods. Three kingdoms prospered under the rule of the twin Gods of Light and Shadow. Under the God of Light, his worshippers walked the path of truth and justice, and the cultivation of all that lived. The most steadfast of these practitioners were the Silver Eyed Paladins, warriors who's devotion was so strong they could call upon the God of Light's powers to punish the wicked. Those that followed the God of Shadow tread down a much darker path, using darker and more nefarious means to achieve their goals, though they were ultimately on the side of life. It was said that when they passed on, their souls were reincarnated as the vicious Creatures of Grimm, who were the very spirits of vengeance incarnate.

All three kingdoms prospered under the rule of the Gods. But there was a fourth kingdom that did not share their prosperity. In a land shrouded by perpetual shadow, a fourth kingdom grew. An empire built on war and slavery, and empire that did not worship the twin Gods. This kingdom was ruled by a wicked Sorceress known as Salem, who desired only power. Her people worshipped her as their own Goddess, for they were enthralled by the magic of Salem. She looked upon the other kingdoms and saw only weakness, and believed her kingdom was strongest for the hardships they had endured. And so she decided to conquer these kingdoms, and rule the world as its one and only Goddess.

Her victories were swift and brutal, her hordes conquering the armies of the lesser kingdoms. Victory was all but assured, until the twin Gods descended from the heavens with their armies of Paladins and Grimm. Salem's armies were swiftly defeated, but the Gods wrath did not stop there. They turned on her lands, wiping out an entire civilisation in a swift and brutal fashion. Only Salem survived, left by the Gods to suffer the consequences of her actions.

But the Gods did not truly understand the mind of a human as wicked as Salem. They believed that she would be humbled, but instead she was wrathful. She wished to undo all that the Gods had created. But she knew she wasn't strong enough to challenge the Gods directly. No, she needed the powers of the Gods themselves.

And so, feigning humility, she travelled to the greatest temple of the twin Gods and begged for forgiveness. The high priest, a once legendary warrior known as Ozpin, pitied the seemingly broken Salem, and made it his duty to help heal her soul. Days turned to weeks, and weeks into months, but Salem was patient and bid her time. Finally, she heard whispers among the priests of a sacred pool deep within the temple grounds, from which it was believed that the Gods were first born, and much later the Humans and Faunus.

Once she verified the truth of these rumours did she act, and she did so with cruel brutality. Ozpin was the last to fall, his guilt of sheltering Salem so strong it bound his spirit to the mortal world forever more. Salem at last made her way to the sacred pools that would grant her godhood, and she drank deeply from its waters.

But doing so came at a price. The pools were not meant for mortals, especially not one as corrupt as Salem. She was granted godhood, but gone was her beautiful human form, replaced now by a monstrous and hideous one. But she cared little, for ultimate power was now in her grasp at last. The Gods came to challenge Salem, and their terrible conflict would last for years upon years. Entire civilisations were wiped out by the fury of their blows, even today many believe that the most ferocious of storms are echoes of this battle.

Salem was strong, but she was one against two. With his flaming sword the God of Light destroyed her physical form, and the God of Shadow trapped her immortal soul in a realm of torment. They had won, but their victory was a pyrrhic one. Nearly all of mankind had been wiped out by their conflict, and the Gods themselves were severely weakened. And so the two brothers left Remnant, both to recover their strength and ponder how one of their own creations could turn against them so willingly.

Humanity and the Faunus would eventually recover and rebuild from the ashes, but they would not know peace, for although Salem had been defeated, she still lived. She sought an escape from her prison, but much like the Gods themselves, she was still too weak. It was during this time that she learned that her prison was also the birthplace of the Grimm, and with the God of Shadow gone, the two were now linked. She used the Grimm to ravage what was left of humanity, and it was then that she discovered that the deaths caused by the Grimm strengthened her spirit.

By the time that Humanity learned to properly defend themselves against the Grimm, she had managed to harvest enough power to project a physical manifestation of her will, in the shape of her human form, though corrupted by her dark nature. It was here that she learned that the Grimm alone would not be enough, and so she began to amass human followers, who could act where the Grimm could not. They would sow chaos and terror through the new kingdoms, and they in turn would draw the Grimm, and every soul the Grimm consumed would feed Salem, and her strength would grow.

It was during these early years that Ozpin resurfaced. Unable to pass on into the afterlife, weighed down by his own grief and self loathing, he turned instead to help Humanity fight the Grimm. In order to do so, he would possess a human, and do his best to guide the human race. At first, he would forcefully take over the body, but in time he learned to have a more symbiotic relationship with his host body, acting only as a voice of counsel.

And then he learned of Salem and her plans to return. Upon learning this, Ozpin changed his goals. He would not help guide humanity. Instead he would use them to end Salem once and for all, and finally wash away his failure from so long ago.

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**And that's about it. Like I said, I would really appreciate some feedback on what you all thought. Did you think it was better, worse, or just okay? I'd love to know what you all thought. If anyone does want to use this origin for Salem instead of the canon one, just ask me first and credit me as the source for the rewrite.**

**Raging Archon out.**


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